The Dully Dispatch

Lachlan is also looking forward to The Compost Coach by (ex) inner westie Kate Flood (aka @compostablekate). Whether you’re a novice or dab hand, this book has everything you need to know about compost bins, worm farms and Bokashi.

For non-fiction readers, Koko recommends The Memory of Trees by Viki Cramer, which explores what it means to be a part of a place and community, and the role of the natural landscape. Cramer’s love for the Australian landscape is palpable - this is a persuasive cry for the conservation of trees. Koko also recommends Eda Gunaydin’s Root and Branch, a relatable and witty collection of essays reflecting the experiences of women, Sydneysiders and Turkish Australia.

And for poetry lovers, Arwen recommends the incomparable Mary Oliver. Oliver’s collection of love poetry, Felicity, explores the beauty of human connection and the art of loving the strangeness of the world. The most tender archivist of the landscape, Oliver delves into the sacred and the profane to uplift and inspire the lover in us all.

Soren recently read the middle-grade novel Loki by Louie Stowell, which was funny and quirky and reminiscent of Adrian Mole (remember Adrian and his pimples and poetry?). Soren is completely hooked. Soren also re-read Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut and found it even better than the first time.

Isn’t it great when that happens? Truly remarkable stuff.

Woodslane

$50

A Conscious Garden

Rebecca Sullivan

Grow your sustainable gardening skills with expert tips on making the most of your soil and space, companion planting and how to plant vegetables and herbs, must-grow medicinal and food plants, simple composting and mulching, natural pest deterrents and harnessing the power of worm farms, bee hotels and pollination. Coupled with recipes and crafty garden party ideas that save you time, money and stress, Rebecca Sullivan’s eco-conscious tips make gardening simple and stress-free.

Knife Drop: Creative Recipes

Vietnamese Vegetarian Uyen Luu

A collection of delicious vegetarian Vietnamese food, Vietnamese Vegetarian showcases more than 80 of the tastiest vegetarian Vietnamese recipes, including quick dishes such as sweet potato noodles with roasted fennel and sweetheart cabbage and grilled vegetable banh mi, along with dishes fit for a feast, such as mushroom and tofu pho and rice paper pizza, and sweet treats like rainbow dessert and lotus and sweet potato rice pudding. Uyen Luu also provides tips and tricks for adapting the recipes for alternative ingredients.

Simply Scandinavian

$50

Great food doesn’t have to be over the top, fussy, or time intensive to be amazing. In this foundational cookbook, Nick DiGiovanni gives you the tools to become fearless in the kitchen and create unapologetically delicious meals. Building on a foundation of staple recipes such as basic pasta dough and homemade butter, Nick shares a mouthwatering selection of his favourite recipes including custard yoghurt toast, grilled peach burrata salad, smoked bacon carbonara, and his signature MasterChef chocolate pie.

Of Cabbages and Kimchi

James Read

Particular Books

$45

In this playful and accessible guide to fermenting at home, James Read, the founder of Kim Kong Kimchi, demonstrates how the microbial process works, then shares his recipes for recreating these delights in your own kitchen without specialist equipment. Alongside his recipes, he investigates the extraordinary cultural and historic backgrounds of fermented foods, exploring how the microbes that bring them to life have developed alongside our culinary evolution. Featuring more than 50 recipes and packed to the brim with essential howto information, Of Cabbages and Kimchi will help you create, understand and appreciate fermentation’s bubbling magic.

Anastasia Miari

$45

Courgettes from Lesvos. A Tinian fourtalia. Corfiot spicy bourdeto stew. Ionian pasta dishes. Cretan Dakos salad. Watermelon cake from Milos. Yiayia maps out the diverse dishes of Greece – far beyond the most commonlyknown moussaka, Greek salad, and tzatziki dip – through the fascinating recipes and stories of its Yiayiades. With stunning location photography and heart-warming interviews, you will discover the true food of Greece and the characterful grandmothers behind it.

Trine Hahnemann

Simply Scandinavian celebrates the abundance of produce that each new season brings and the simple ways in which it can be enjoyed. In a nod to the Scandinavian way of eating, the book offers more than 80 unpretentious and straightforward dishes with a focus on ease of cooking and seasonality. By showing just how achievable it is to get amazing flavours out of just a handful of good ingredients, Trine Hahnemann creates solutions for easy breakfasts, mid-week meals and simple but impressive ways to entertain family and friends. This is an uncomplicated and greener way to cook and eat, from an expert in Scandinavian cookery.

Bao Family

Celine Chung

Full of recipes sharing their love of bao as well as other Chinese dishes, the Bao Family cookbook symbolises the bridge between two cultures: the traditions of China and the modernity of Parisian life. Through more than 80 classic yet accessible and playful recipes, Celine Chung and her family push back against the stereotypes surrounding Chinese cooking and pay tribute to its diversity and regionality.

What’s for Dinner?

Jill Griffiths

Never before has so much food been produced by so few people to feed so many. Never before have Australian consumers been so disconnected from their food production, yet so interested in how it is done. What’s for Dinner? delves into the way our food is grown and our responsibilities as eaters. Weaving together science, history and lived experience, What’s for Dinner? takes readers on a journey to meet the plants, animals and people who put the food on our plates.

Beazley: A Biography

Peter FitzSimons HarperCollins Publishers

Australia, 1998

First Edition vii, 467pp.

Hardcover

Black and white photographs, endnotes, bibliography, index

Foreword by [then] British Prime Minister Tony Blair

Signed on the half title page by former Prime Ministers Paul Keating [1991-1996]; Gough Whitlam [1972-1975]; Kim Beazley and author Peter FitzSimons. Signed on the title page by former Prime Minister Bob Hawke [1983-1991].

Slightly rolled. Age-toned text block. Browned edges but otherwise clean and bright. Dustjacket lightly rubbed.